Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

Redskins Nation is a half-hour show devoted to giving fane unfiltered access to the day's events at Redskins Park. Hosted by Larry Michael, the show features Redskins players, coaches, and sit-down interviews with team officials. (Show re-airs at 11:30 p.m./7:30 a.m. daily)

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Brian Orakpo addressed the media at Redskins Park today, fielding questions about the absent Albert Haynesworth (“He handled his situation and he’ll be back soon”); new defensive coordinator Jim Haslett (“You can relate to him. He played this game”); and who he models his game after (“I look at everybody”).

He also delved a bit into such now-familiar 2010 Redskins offseason topics as A) How enthusiastic he is about the level of competition around Redskins Park.

“I love competition,” he said. “Lot of guys here love competition. You don’t ever wanna be in the situation where, hey, my job’s secure so I’m gonna stop working. I hope that the next guy behind me is gonna be comin’ in, try to take my spot, it makes me work better. Try to take Haynesworth’s spot, it makes him work better. Andre, Fletcher, everybody. Nobody’s spot is secure until we start the season, and that’s what’s gonna make us better. We won four games so it’s subject to change.”

And offseason topic B) Are the Redskins transitioning to a 3-4 defense?

“I didn’t get the word we [were going] 3-4 yet,” he said. “Tell you the truth, I don’t know, man. We’ll see. But whatever scheme we’re in, I know the coach is doin’ a great job getting some stuff set up for all of us to make plays. The number one thing [is], we gotta make turnovers. We were last in the league, and we gotta create turnovers and get the ball back to our offense. I’d be excited either way. Either/or, it doesn’t matter. Long as I move forward and rush the passer, it don’t matter. 4-3, 3-4, just get me rushing and I’m good.”

But perhaps the most entertaining part of Orakpo’s appearance was when it turned into an impromptu session of Brian Orakpo Previews The 2010 NFL Draft. It started with a question about Russell Okung, the highly-rated offensive tackle out of Oklahoma State who battled Orakpo when he was rushing the passer at Texas. From there, it seemed like everyone wanted Orakpo’s opinion on a different player, leading him to laugh, “Y’all gonna ask me everybody, huh? What about Coach [Mack] Brown?”

Still, without further ado, here are Brian Orakpo’s takes on a few of the top prospects in this year’s NFL Draft. Read more »

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Upgrading the FedExField gameday experience to HD isn’t like upgrading your living room set. You can’t just junk the old set, plug the new one in, and enjoy your sitcoms in beautiful hi-def.

The equipment used to produce the games needs to be upgraded, people need to be trained, and the control room needs a full overhaul. As of yesterday, here’s what the control room — the nerve center for the whole operation of presenting the game on gameday — looks like.

Okay, it doesn’t look that impressive. I can see that. It’s a construction bin and some tools and not a whole lot else. It’s hard to imagine that it’s an upgrade over anything. Then again, here’s what used to sit in roughly that spot: Read more »

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For the curious, here they are: the five picks the Redskins have in April’s NFL Draft. The third-round pick was used in the supplemental draft to select defensive end Jeremy Jarmon (pictured above); the sixth-round pick was part of the Jason Taylor trade. Pending any future moves, this is what the Redskins have to work with.

Round

Pick

Overall

Club

1

4

4

Washington

2

5

37

Washington

4

5

103

Washington

5

4

135

Washington

7

4

211

Washington

The Redskins are in a tier with the Kansas City Chiefs based on regular-season record, and the two teams flip-flop who gets to pick first in each round. Hence the alternating fourth and fifth picks.Read more »

Inform Redskins Nation:

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At a glance, this picture may not make much visual sense. It probably looks like workers doing … something … on a three-story building behind some seats in FedExField, and that’s precisely what it is. What’s interesting about it is that the “three-story building” is actually the workspace behind what used to be the much-derided JumboTron. It’s visible and open to the air now because … well, because it’s gone.

Here’s another shot that moves things back a bit and adds some context. Read more »

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At Mike Shanahan’s introductory press conference as new head coach of the Washington Redskins, he mentioned the possibility of holding training camp somewhere away from Redskins Park this year. “I kind of enjoy going away if you can get the right environment,” he said at the time, adding, “But I’m not sure that that’s possible because you’ve got to have a quality field and you’ve got to be able to have meeting rooms. We’ll look into that and do the best thing for the Redskins.”

Well, it looks like “the best thing for the Redskins” is going to be staying in the heart of Loudoun County, Virginia; this year’s training camp will again be held at Redskins Park. Read more »

I get an alarming number of questions about the idea of moving either Chris Horton or LaRon Landry to linebacker, so when I was talking to Horton yesterday, I figured it was at least worth asking him. I’ll be honest: I expected his answer to be completely dismissive, but … well, that’s not exactly how it went when I directly asked Horton if he or Landry could move to linebacker. Read more »

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Entering last season, Chris Horton was one of the real bright spots from the Redskins’ 2008 draft class.

There was a lot of hope as 2009 began: that wide receivers Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas would break out, that tight end Fred Davis would make an impact, that Chad Rinehart would contribute along the offensive line. (And, of course, among that ever-vocal subset, the fond wish that Colt Brennan would become the gunslingin’ quarterback of the future.)

But Horton was the closest the Redskins had to a sure thing. The seventh-round pick had surprised in his rookie season, leading the team in interceptions, being named to the Pro Football Weekly Rookie All-Pro Team, earning multiple NFL honors, and was a highlight of a down year. In 2009, it was hoped, he’d develop further down the path to stardom.

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I have no idea if SI.com writer Peter King saw my piece yesterday criticizing his comments about the late Sean Taylor, but it doesn’t really matter — MMQB reader “Tim of Washington” made King’s mailbag today with pretty much the same complaints, and King responded.

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The Redskins today announced the signing of veteran punter Josh Bidwell. Bidwell is entering his 11th NFL season, having spent the the last six years with the Tampa Bay Bucs. And here’s what “entering his 11th NFL season means for practical purposes:

His highlights from that game are as far from HD as is possible while still being a moving picture.

His quarterback in that game was Akili Smith, a former first-round pick who hasn’t taken an NFL snap in almost a decade.

It also means that he’s had plenty of NFL experience. Bidwell holds a Buccaneers club record in gross punting average (44.0 avg.), punting attempts (419) and punts inside the 20-yard line (124). as well as the top four single-season gross punting averages in Buccaneers history (2005-08) and three of the top five single-season net punting averages in club history (2005, 2007-08).

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Well, Albert Haynesworth‘s certainly become something of a hot topic. First there was Kelli Johnson’s breathless Twitter report over the weekend that Haynesworth had not been at workouts after Monday. Then Jason Reid at the Washington Post countered by reporting that the team had been made aware of Haynesworth’s absence in advance. And now Haynesworth himself has turned up on Sirius NFL Radio with Adam Schein and Rich Gannon, talking about exactly WHY he wants to use his own trainer.

Dan Steinberg has done the heavy lifting of transcribing the quotes, and you can see Haynesworth’s reasoning there. (My two cents: I see his point and don’t totally agree right now, but it’s the kind of thing where it’s all going to depend on hindsight. If he has a great season and stays healthy, then it was a great move. If he struggles, everyone can point at this as a mistake. Honestly, I’m not sure it contributes either way.)

ANYHOW, that wasn’t the part of the interview that intrigued me the most. Read more »